My sister died tragically, and now I'm a citizen of my motherland, why are you crying?

The next day.

The sky was just before dawn.

A video started going viral online.

No previews, no clickbait headlines, no marketing watermarks.

It's just a clip, recorded from a secret room in the black market. The image quality isn't very clear, but it's enough to see every detail.

In the video, a man wearing a white shirt and a red cape stands in the center of an underground chamber, with three corpses at his feet.

His white shirt was soaked in blood, and his face was splattered with blood; only his eyes shone brightly amidst the bloodstains.

The narration mentions three S-class heroes.

They are ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively in the Jiangcheng Heroes Association.

One was torn in two alive.

One had his neck snapped.

One of them collapsed at the doorway, blood streaming from his eyes, his consciousness fading.

Less than two minutes.

The video garnered over 100,000 views within ten minutes of being posted.

Twenty minutes, a million.

The same name dominated the trending topics lists on major social media platforms.

#Homelanders#

#black market#

#Three S-Class Heroes Killed#

#Hero Association Responds#

#Homelander One-Handed Massacre#

The number of views for each topic is increasing by hundreds of thousands.

The comments section exploded.

"Holy crap??? Three S-class heroes??? Less than two minutes???"

"Is this even human???"

"You call this torture? This is massacre!!!"

"Isn't the Iron Wall defense so strong that even missiles can't penetrate it?"

They're as fragile as paper in front of their own people!

"Swift Wind... I've heard that he's the fastest hero in Jiangcheng."

At speeds dozens of times faster than sound, he was strangled to death before he could even touch Homelander's clothes...

"I think the illusionist is the most pitiful."

He was supposedly an S-rank mentalist who could control anyone's consciousness, but he couldn't even protect his own.

Look at him at the end, blood streaming from his eyes, convulsing on the ground... He's been retaliated against, isn't he?

"What exactly is in Homelander's mind that could cause an S-class psychic to backfire like that?"

"Don't just be shocked, that's not the point."

The key question is—why is Homelander in the black market? And why are there strange corpses in the black market?

"right!!!

Do you remember what Han Dong, the black market middleman, said during Homelander's live stream last night?

He said the Hero Association was raising monsters and releasing them!

"Holy crap...you mean...the Jiangcheng Heroes Association is harboring bandits to bolster its own position?"

This comment was pushed to the top, followed by hundreds of thousands of replies.

Meanwhile, another video also began to circulate.

It's not a video of Homelander killing people, but footage of the inside of the black market.

Those iron cages, the remains of those strange men.

The weapons and banned drugs piled up in the cave, the black market dealers huddled in the corners, trembling with fear.

The Hero Association logo on the iron cage.

The seal of the Jiangcheng Heroes Association on the wall of the drug enforcement container.

Every frame is irrefutable evidence.

The comments section exploded again.

"Did you see the Hero Association's logo?!"

Those iron cages have the Hero Association's logo on them.

"And those awakening potions—these definitely weren't made on the black market; they belong to the Hero Association!"

"So what Han Dong said is true??? The Hero Association is really raising monsters???"

"It's not about raising, it's about capturing."

Catch them from the wilderness, lock them up, and release them when needed. Kill them in front of the whole world.

"Damn it... From today onwards, I will never believe in any heroes again."

"Me too."

"+1"

"+10086"

Outside of Jiangcheng, there is Lincheng.

This city, located west of Jiangcheng, is smaller than Jiangcheng, but the strength of the Lincheng Heroes Association should not be underestimated.

The president of the Hero Association at dawn is a woman.

Her name is Shen Qinglan.

Twenty-five years old, S-class hero, nicknamed "Frostblade".

Her ability is "ice control," which can freeze half a city into an ice field in an instant.

Although its lethality is not high, its destructive power is extremely strong.

Often used in group combat, it once single-handedly wiped out a group of monsters in the South China Sea.

It is said that when it unleashes its full power, the temperature can drop below minus two hundred degrees Celsius.

Within the Hero Association system, each city has its own branch.

Each goes its own way, while checking and balancing each other.

Jiangcheng, Lincheng, Haicheng, Yanjing... each branch has its own sphere of influence.

Your own resource allocation, your own network of contacts.

On the surface, everyone is a member of the Hero Association, sharing the same ideals and helping each other.

In reality, the open and covert struggles never ceased.

Resources are limited; whoever is stronger will get more.

Whoever has more S-class heroes in their possession carries more weight in their words.

Whoever has better performance will receive more favor from headquarters.

Jiangcheng has always been a leader in the Chinese Heroes Association.

It boasts the largest number of S-class heroes, the highest market share, and the highest GG revenue, consistently ranking among the top five nationwide.

In the early morning, one can only be ranked sixth.

Shen Qinglan has always been bothered by this ranking.

At this moment, she was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the Lincheng Heroes Association.

Holding a cup of coffee in my hand, I look out at the city.

Shortly after dawn, the morning light bathed the entire city in a pale golden glow.

The distant mountains were faintly visible in the thin mist, while early risers were already walking on the nearby streets.

Under Shen Qinglan's governance, the security situation in Lincheng was excellent.

However... in the external rankings, it is always surpassed by those filthy people who use all sorts of disgusting methods.

She picked up her coffee and took a sip.

Then, there was a knock on the door behind her.

"Come in."

The door opened, and her assistant strode in, holding a tablet computer.

His face wore an indescribable expression—a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and schadenfreude.

"President, look at this."

Shen Qinglan took the tablet, and the video was playing on the screen.

Homelander stood in the middle of a pool of blood, with the corpses of three S-class heroes at his feet.

The white shirt was soaked in blood, the red cape hung down behind him, and his scarlet eyes stared directly at the camera.

Shen Qinglan watched the entire video.

Then, she looked at it again.

Her cold complexion regained some color.

Then, she returned the tablet to her assistant, walked back to the floor-to-ceiling window, and remained silent for a long time.

Her assistant stood behind her, not daring to breathe.

Finally, Shen Qinglan spoke, her tone relaxed.

"How many people died in Jiangcheng?"

The assistant quickly replied, "Four: Thunder Cop, Iron Wall, Gale, and Illusionist."

And within a week.

"Four S-level awards in one week."

Shen Qinglan's voice was calm, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

"That old bastard Zhao Tiangang must be having a real headache right now."

The assistant nodded: "It's said that headquarters is furious."

Zhao Tiangang was required to resolve the issue of the people of the motherland within a specified period.

Either make him come out and clarify things himself, or make him resign and atone with his death.

However, he doesn't have many people left who can be used.

Four S-class heroes are dead. Of the remaining few, who dares to go and die?